


Midnight Miracle

by MagicalQuillPower2100



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-02-07 09:53:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21456109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicalQuillPower2100/pseuds/MagicalQuillPower2100
Summary: On July 31st, 1980, Harry is born under mysterious circumstances that earn him the title, "The Boy Who Lived," just not in the way one would expect. (One-shot, AU)
Kudos: 7





	Midnight Miracle

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

“ARRGH!!” Lily screamed as another contraction squeezed around her enlarged stomach. Her long red hair was plastered to her head in sweat. She gripped the bedsheets with all her might as she rode out the pain. Why did I decide to do a homebirth again?, she questioned herself mentally. I could be having an epidural right now, had I agreed to give birth in a hospital! 

“AH!” she panted in relief as the tension in her stomach slowly started to recede. 

Her emerald eyes glanced upward at the clock on the wall. It was nearing midnight. “I guess this means you’re going to be an August baby, huh little one?” Lily smiled weakly at the thought. Another tightening sensation took over her abdomen, this one more brutal than the last. She let out a high pitched shriek, causing her voice to crack.

“JAMES!” Lily cried out for her absent husband as mind numbing pain coursed through her body. 

He should be here by now! She wept as she feared the worst, that he would arrive too late. 

Footsteps came barreling down the hall, but she paid no attention to them. Her husband was missing. He was going to miss their child’s birth…

“Lily!” a man’s voice called from the doorway. Lily looked up with her tired green eyes and nearly wept with joy upon seeing her husband. 

“James?” she whispered, her voice hoarse from screaming. 

“I’m here,” James responded, coming to her bedside and grasping her hand. 

“Where’s the healer?” she muttered, weak with exhaustion. 

James looked around the room anxiously. “The healer whom we hired was nowhere to be found, but,” he looked to the old man that entered the room holding fresh linens, “I was able to get her father to help us.”

Lily looked at the elderly man through the slits of her eyelids. “Hmm...mm,” she murmured, before closing her eyes completely.

James stared at his wife with wide eyes. “Lily?” he whispered, brushing away strands of damp red hair from her forehead. He licked his lips and repeated her name again, this time louder.

The old man came to the bed and set down the cloths beside her. He cleared his throat and gestured to the unconscious woman.

“Let’s see how far along she is, shall we?” he asked, waiting for permission to remove the blankets around his wife’s waist.

“Y-Yes, please,” James stuttered, slightly flushed at the thought of someone seeing Lily’s body other than himself.

The old man nodded and removed the blanket. Gently, he propped her legs up and peered downwards. “Oh Merlin,” he muttered deeply, with disapproval. He quickly grabbed the fresh linens and placed them under her limp body, all the while cursing under his breath.

“What? What is it?” James panicked. “What’s wrong?” He looked at the healer with fear in his brown eyes.

“She’s crowning,” the healer stated. The old man opened his cloak and grabbed a bottle from its pocket. “You should have fetched a healer much earlier, young man,” he scolded mildly, handing James the bottle. “Put that near her nose so she can inhale it. She needs to be awake for this next part.”

James hesitated for a moment before complying. “Come on, Lily…” he begged, watching her face for any sign of consciousness as he held the bottle to her nose.

Suddenly, she gasped, her emerald eyes fluttering open, looking around frantically until she saw him smiling down at her. She opened her mouth to smile, when pain stabbed her right through her stomach.

“UH-AGH!” Lily screamed, causing James to drop the bottle and stare at his wife helplessly. He quickly grabbed her hand to give her some reassurance, only to realize that was a fatal mistake. 

“ow-Ow!” he hissed as Lily’s crushing grip nearly broke the bones in his hand.

James heard a snort, and shot a glare at the old man who stood between his wife’s legs, wand in hand. “Rookies,” the healer rolled his eyes and recast the diagnostics spell. He narrowed his eyes and said, “She’ll most likely be having her baby upon her next contraction, so…” He trailed off, eyeing the results of the medical spell.

The old man frowned and was about to make a remark when Lily let out a blood curdling scream.

James jumped to his feet and looked at Lily with wide terrified eyes. “What is it? What’s wrong with her?” he shouted, looking to the healer for an answer.

Quickly, the old man placed his hands on her large stomach and felt around. “Something’s wrong,” he muttered. The healer shifted his hands, at the same moment, Lily started gasping repeatedly. She convulsed under his touch and passed out from hyperventilation.

“The placenta must have detached!” the old man grunted, moving his hands away from her abdomen to her lower regions. “The baby is suffocating! We have to get the baby out NOW!” the healer yelled.

James stood there, frozen. He didn’t know what to do. Whenever he was scared, he simply pushed the thing that frightened him away, before it pushed him first. That's what he did whenever he dueled in Hogwarts or fought against the Dark Lord’s supporters.

But this was different. He wasn’t dealing with overconfident, prudish Slytherins, like Snivellus, who all grew up to join the Dark Lord’s forces. At least then he was able to protect Lily, a muggleborn, from those scum who thought they, purebloods, were better than the muggles and muggleborns.

This time, he couldn’t protect Lily. All he could do was stand there and watch as she bled out. Her crimson blood soaking the bed sheets while he stood there, utterly helpless. 

Everything around him seemed to blur and he could barely even make out what the healer was saying. Every now and then he could just make out words and phrases. Things like ‘losing too much blood’ and ‘stillborn’. 

James suddenly came to when the old man grabbed and shook him violently by shoulders. “Snap out of it, you stupid boy!” the healer shouted. James blinked and looked at the old man with wide eyes. “She’s losing too much blood! Do I need to repeat myself? Now go get more blood replenishing potions!” 

James faltered briefly before racing down the stairs to the bathroom where the emergency kit was. As he left the room, he could barely make out the sentence the healer muttered as he returned to the bedside.

...might be able to save the woman even if the child is lost…

James threw open the bathroom door and instinctively reached for his wand in his back pocket. With a quick wordless Accio, he caught the potion with his right hand. He groaned, mentally kicking himself for not doing that in the first place while he was upstairs.

He raced back up the stairs to the bedroom, and froze at the door frame. 

Blood soaked nearly every inch of the bed. James’s mind raced with impossible reasons as to why there was so much blood, each not having to do with Lily’s condition.

He slowly entered the room, only to stop again when the old man turned around. In his arms was a small bundle, the blanket drenched in blood as well. The healer’s face was tight, trying to remain impassive. “Stillborn, I’m afraid,” he said, taking the potion from James’s hand and replacing it with the child.

James stared at the bundle. He didn’t dare try to move the fabric to see the child’s face. He didn’t know if he could handle seeing such an innocent little thing be completely motionless, without a speck of life in the little body.

Cautiously, he put his wand away and ever so slightly, lifted his hand to move the blanket. His lips parted in awe. The baby was gorgeous with obvious wild black hair. The child’s eyes were closed but he knew they must be like his own since his hair was.

A warm feeling spread over his chest, and he felt utterly happy. James was smiling without even realizing it. 

The infant was so still, it must have been asleep. 

As soon as the thought passed through his mind, he stiffened immediately. 

James slowly walked over to the bed where the healer was tending to his wife and set the baby down. 

Of course the child was still. It had no heartbeat. It had no life.

Tears dripped down his cheek and he inhaled unsteadily. His child was...dead. How was he going to tell Lily that their precious baby was gone and all her suffering was for naught?

He glanced down at the bundle and the tears continued to stream down his face. The baby could have passed for a perfect porcelain doll. One of his own tears fell on the child’s peaceful face and he slowly wiped it away with his thumb. A shudder passed through him as he felt the cold flesh.

“J-James?” Lily asked hoarsely, her arm outstretched to him. He quickly dried his tears with his sleeve and smiled at her.

Lily slowly opened her eyes and saw an old man in front of her. Her mouth was parched. “Thirsty?” the old man asked, with a gentle smile. She nodded, gratefully.

The old man stood and left, leaving her alone in the room with the young man. Slowly, her mind made the connection that this man was her husband. “J-James?” she asked hoarsely, beckoning him to come by reaching out to him.

He turned around and smiled that smile at her when he is upset about something. “What’s the matter?” she asked somewhat worried.

“Uh? Nothing, it’s nothing.” he reassured her, grasping her hand. “How are you feeling?” he asked concerned.

She smiled weakly and gave a shrug. “I’ve had my better days.”

James chuckled at the comment, which made her happy. Lily glanced around the room expectantly. “So where’s my baby? Is it a girl?” she asked. James visibly stiffened at the question. Lily let out a light laugh. “Okay, so it's not a girl,” she joked.

Lily locked her eyes with his brown ones, trying to see what he was holding back. “James, where is my baby?” she repeated.

He took a deep breath and opened his mouth, but no words came out.

The last time James was utterly speechless was when he had to tell her that her pet goldfish had died. 

At that moment, she realized what James was trying to tell her, but she refused to believe it. “Where is my baby, James?” her voice cracked as tears started to glisten in her emerald eyes.

James tried to speak again but the words died at his lips once again. He finally gave up and slapped his hand on his thigh in frustration as silent tears came to his eyes as well.

“No...no, no, no…” Lily cried, covering her mouth with her shaking hand as she wept.

“Mr. Potter?” the old man called from the door, holding her water in his hand. 

James sniffled and quickly wiped the tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand before standing. Lily watched as he walked to the foot of the bed and grabbed a small bundle. She sobbed as she reached out to take the bundle from his grasp and cradled the baby instinctively to her chest. She looked down at her lost child through her long strands of red hair and silently mourned.

James stood outside the bedroom with his arms crossed. “What is it?” he somewhat snapped at the healer.

The old man frowned in disapproval at his tone. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this but your wife is dying. I can’t give her any more blood replenishing potions without overdosing her, which would defeat the whole purpose of what we’re trying to accomplish. I’m afraid that I must inform you that she probably won’t last the hour,” he said solemnly.

James clenched his hand into a fist and walked back into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him. 

Lily looked up at him with red, puffy eyes. “W-What did he say?” she whispered, glancing back down at the silent baby in her arms.

“Something I really didn’t want to know,” James answered truthfully, as he climbed into the bed beside her. 

They sat there in silence, staring at the infant that was supposed to be their bundle of squirming joy, but instead a limp body.

“He looks just like you,” she noted. “Don’t you think we should name him?” Lily muttered, staring at the little face in her arms. 

“We don’t even know its gender yet,” James remarked.

“It was a boy,” a voice spoke, startling both parents. The old man smirked and walked over to the bedside, a glass of water in hand. “Your drink,” he clarified, handing Lily the glass.

Lily smiled at the old man. “Sorry, but what was your name again?” she asked weakly.

“Harold. Harold Watley,” he responded. 

“Harold.” Lily scrunched up her nose with distaste. “That name is a bit old, how about we name him...Harry.” She nodded in approval. “Harry James Potter.” Lily turned to look at James with a smile. “What do you think?”

“Harry...I love it.” He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. “Rest now, dearest. You’ve worked enough.” Lily nodded, noticing the ache in her body that she had been ignoring because the ache in heart was much greater. Now that the pain was gone, she felt at ease and let herself be swallowed by the black hole that was ever present in the back of her mind.

She held her baby close as she gave her last breath.

Empty. That was the feeling James felt as he watched his Lily slip away.

The clock chimed, signifying that it was now midnight, and almost simultaneously a baby’s cry filled the room. 

James froze as he watched the small bundle in his deceased wife’s arms come to life. The infant gurgled and coughed before releasing another cry.

Hesitantly, he picked up the blood soaked bundle and stared in bewilderment at the squirming infant inside it.

Emerald green eyes blinked back at him and the baby let out a gurgle. James laughed, completely astonished.

“How in Merlin’s name?” the old man drew his wand and recast the same diagnostics spell he’d done previously. “Healthy,” he commented, utterly stupefied as he read the results.

James smiled and cradled the baby closer to him. “Harry James Potter,” he smirked. “The boy who lived.”


End file.
